Their aerial steed could not be seen from the far distant surface of the earth, unless one chanced to have a very powerful pair of binoculars similar to the beautiful ones Perk was just then handling—the Government at least was a generous employer, since the question of price never entered into the purchase of such instruments as were necessary.
Suddenly Perk let out a loud crow.
“Gimme the stick, gov’nor!” he called out, shoving in behind his mate. “Aplenty in sight right naow, I’d say, if yeou asked me. Jest peek yeour eye on that ere stretch o’ marsh, I take the same to be, clost alongside yonder stretch o’ pine woods—must be some sorter corduroy road built through the muck, screened mostly by cypress trees covered with a heap o’ trapsin’ moss.”
“I’ve got it, partner—just as you’re saying in the bargain, a corduroy road made of logs laid parallel, and looking a bit new as if it had only been constructed lately, for some special purpose.”
“See anythin’ amovin’, boss?” continued the excited Perk, eagerly.
“Not yet,” he was told; “but whatever you saw may be hidden behind some patch of dense timber at the moment. Ha!”
“Ketched ’em jest then, did yeou?”
“One—two—three motor-trucks in a line, close to each other, and making fair time over that bumpy log-road, considering that they seem to be heavily laden with something covered by dirty tarpaulins.”
“Somethin’—huh! weuns ought to know what kinder stuff, eh, partner?” laughed Perk, jubilantly enough.
“Keep circling around, using these hazy clouds for a screen, whenever possible, brother,” urged Jack. “I want to get an eyeful of this same picture, because it’s going to give me the one thing that was lacking—a knowledge of the way they get the stuff out of such a boggy country without being detected by sharp-eyed revenue men.”